ON THE EDGE

Winning streaks

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:58

The Rugby Championship-winning All Blacks are currently on a 16-match winning streak.

That is just one short of the world record share with the Springboks for Tier One countries.

(Let's get one thing straight, this website does not believe Lithuania's 18 wins count for anything - given that they repeatedly beat nondescript teams like Switzerland, Andorra, Serbia and Armenia in the European Nations Cup Third Division and never faced opposition of any note).

Now, back to real rugby.

The question is, can New Zealand win their next two Tests against Australia (October 20) and Scotland (November 11) to set a new record?

The World Cup champions have not lost a match on an end-of-year tour for a decade (24 matches) and have scored an incredible 93 tries to 17 against in that time, keeping their Northern Hemisphere hosts tryless in nine out of the last 12 meetings.

This run also includes a 36 match winning streak against all teams from the British Isles; both home and away.

New Zealand have only ever been beaten by five Test nations - South Africa, Wales, Australia, England and France. It is six teams if you count the B&I Lions, which are made up of the four Home Unions.

The All Blacks are the only international team to have a winning record against every nation they have played.

* Tier One and Two nations are the participants of the Six Nations Championship (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales), The Rugby Championship (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina), the Pacific Nations Cup (Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga), as well as Canada, Romania and the United States.